Welcome to Coeliac Awareness Week.   For those of you that don’t know, Coeliac disease is a condition where your immune system attacks your own tissues when you eat gluten. This damages your small intestine so you are unable to take in nutrients.  It affects at least 1 in 100 people in the UK.

There’s no cure for coeliac disease, but following a gluten-free diet should help control symptoms and prevent the long-term complications of the condition.  Further information can be found here.

Coeliac UK is a charity that provides lots of information and support.

Coeliac disease is still very new to me and I’m learning as I go.  My diagnosis came in January of last year.  I’d never really heard of it before and I didn’t have any of the common symptoms but it was picked up on a routine blood test.

The change in diet was a big shock to the system.  It seemed that literally everything contained gluten.  It’s been difficult to transition into a gluten free diet but I’m lucky to have a great support network at home and they have really helped me.

The hardest part for me, has been eating out at restaurants (although the opportunities have been few and far between over the last year!).  I’ve felt very self-conscious in having to be “that” person with the dietary requirements.  To be fair, I’ve not had any issues and most places do have a gluten free option.

Thankfully most supermarkets do have quite a good gluten free range, and it is getting a lot better but they do tend to be a lot more expensive than ‘normal’ options.

I’m still getting used to things like having to have my own toaster, breadboard etc but I’m getting there.  I’m also very fortunate to have a couple of local gluten free takeaways so I can still get my chippy fix.

It’s got to the point where my children actually prefer most gluten free options – they’ve been learning it all with me.

Thanks for taking the time to read.  Have a great week.